Burkina Faso will host the closing ceremony of the International Year of Pulses from 10 to 11 February 2017. Throughout 2016, the objective was to highlight the exceptional nutritional benefits of pulses to human diets, through numerous events, publications and other activities.

The closing ceremony was announced on 21 October 2016 in Rome, jointly by José Graziano da Silva, FAO Director-General, and Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, President of Burkina Faso. On 10 and 11 February, the FAO Director-General will be represented in both Kongoussi and Ouagadougou by Maria Helena Semedo, FAO Deputy Director-General in charge of Climate and Natural Resources.

With the slogan “Nutritious seeds for a sustainable future”, the UN General Assembly declared 2016 the International Year of Pulses to raise global awareness to the many nutritional benefits of pulses, to boost its production and trade and encourage research on new ways in which pulses could be used throughout the food chain.